tech thoughts

To Air or Pro?

October 27, 2013by Ben

When choosing a MacBook in recent years, users have had to choose between the portability of the MacBook Air and the power of the MacBook Pro. Apple’s new pricing on the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display makes this decision harder than it’s ever been.

In the past, many power users have gone with the 13-inch MacBook Air for the great portability and battery life. But we never choose the default configuration. At a minimum, we max out the RAM at 8 GB and often bump up the CPU to get another year of life out of it down the road. In the US, that creates a $1,349 computer when choosing the 128 GB SSD.

The 13-inch MacBook Air configuration one should get

But now, the lower prices on the MacBook Pro line allows us to configure a 13-inch with the same amount of RAM and same sized SSD but with the glorious Retina display and faster CPU with integrated Iris Graphics. The MacBook Pro also gives us additional expandability options with dual Thunderbolt 2 and built-in HDMI, all for only $1399, only $50 more than the MacBook Air.

The equivalent 13-inch MacBook Pro for only $50 more.

This makes a very interesting decision. Do you need the ultimate in portability or do you want an awesome screen and more features? The weight difference is now only half a pound so while a month ago I would have probably decided on the MacBook Air (I have an iMac for video editing and development) now I don’t think the I can resist the MacBook Pro.